Pritzker School of Medicine program ranks 11th in latest survey

University of Chicago medical school earns highest research ranking in Illinois

March 16, 2016

The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine earned a No. 11 spot in the latest edition of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Graduate Schools," continuing its status as one of the country's best training grounds for future physicians.

The 2017 results place Pritzker, with 363 students, among the nation's top medical schools for both research and primary care. Pritzker was the highest-ranked Illinois medical school for research.

Overall, Pritzker placed in a three-way tie on the lineup for top research-focused medical schools, sharing the No. 11 spot with the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and New York University. Pritzker had a similar three-way tie in 2016, when it earned a No. 10 ranking. Pritzker's primary care program ranked No. 20 in the nation for 2017, down from its No. 19 spot the year before.

The methodology for the medical school rankings includes scores based on reputation, which is assessed by deans and program directors. Other factors include competitiveness of students, acceptance rates, faculty-student ratios and research funding. The full list of U.S. News medical school rankings is available at usnews.com.

Pritzker continued to earn strong marks for the amount of National Institutes of Health research grants it received per faculty member, ranking third in the nation. Pritzker's faculty received an average of $260,200 in the federal NIH grants, behind only Stanford University ($397,600) and New York University ($311,500). Pritzker also tied with Vanderbilt University as the country's third-most selective medical school, earning high marks for its median MCAT score, the median undergraduate GPA of its students and its overall acceptance rate. Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Pennsylvania earned higher selectivity scores.

Other programs within the Biological Sciences Division had their 2015 results re-published Wednesday. The 2015 report said PhD programs in the Biological Sciences Division were ranked 14th in the country. The University of Chicago paleontology program, which draws from the interdepartmental and inter-institutional Committee on Evolutionary Biology, was rated No. 1 in the nation. And the school's Ecology/Evolutionary Biology program tied for 4th. Those rankings will be updated again in two years.